


Element of Secrecy

by nightshade002



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Earthbender!Iwaizumi, M/M, Waterbender!Hanamaki, Waterbender!Matsukawa, dancer!oikawa, firebender!oikawa, so no one really likes firebenders, the only knowledge of avatar you need is that the fire nation started a war with like everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-12-04 16:56:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11559468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightshade002/pseuds/nightshade002
Summary: The Grand King is a mysterious dancer that travels all over the Earth Kingdom. No one knows who he is, where he comes from, or where he's going to go next. Iwaizumi and Matsukawa are lucky enough to be in the same place as him so they can see one of his performances. Matsukawa isn't necessarily okay with accepting that the Grand King is some unknown person, so he and Iwaizumi enlist the help of a stranger in order to unmask him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally going to post this as a oneshot for Oikawa's birthday, but tornado warnings kept me in my basement without my computer last night so I didn't have enough time to finish the whole thing. The second part should come either later today or tomorrow.
> 
> Also I'm super excited about this because I had this idea a few months ago and I've been wanting to scream about it ever since

The dancer’s chest was heaving from the obvious effort put into his dance as he held his last position, back arched, gaze focused on one hand reaching up towards the night sky, the fingertips of the other just barely touching his chest. The red flowing clothing seemed out of place in the Earth Kingdom, but it fit the atmosphere the torches created with their almost dim light. Not to mention how the color just seemed right on him. Iwaizumi had to admit that Matsukawa was right. It really was worth the overpriced tickets, even short on money as they were. All of the dancer’s face was covered except for his eyes. Eyes that slid over the crowd and seemed to stop on him specifically. His breath hitched and he desperately wanted to look away, but he forced himself to meet the dancer’s gaze. Iwaizumi realized that the dancer probably wasn’t looking at him specifically, but he was fine with pretending.

Eventually, they broke eye contact when the dancer straightened up. He bowed quickly before leaving the stage through a door behind him with a wave. Iwaizumi stared at where he had left from for probably longer than he needed to.

“Well?” Matsukawa nudged him. “Didn’t I say it would be worth it?”

Iwaizumi finally looked away from the stage. “It was alright.”

“So you loved it and think it was absolutely worth it?”

He didn’t respond, just turned around and followed the crowd away from the stage. His lack of response was enough for Matsukawa apparently. “Now we have to figure out a way to earn enough money to get us to the next town.”

“Iwa, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The Grand King’s performances are famous. _And_ he never tells _anyone_ where he’s going to go next. No one has even seen his face. No one knows who he is. Come on, you can’t be a _little_ more enthusiastic?”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes. “What, are you his number one fan or something?”

“I’m always a fan of mysterious people. The fact that he’s probably the most well known person in the Earth Kingdom besides the actual King himself just adds to that.”

“So you wanna find out who he is behind the mask,” Iwaizumi summed up. He could practically feel himself being pulled into another scheme of Matsukawa’s.

“I wanna find out who he is behind the mask,” Matsukawa confirmed. “Before he leaves and we never have this chance again.”

Iwaizumi sighed. “Do you have some sort of plan and does it include going back to the inn and actually getting some rest before tomorrow?”

“Yes and yes,” Matsukawa said triumphantly. He was going to tease Iwaizumi about how easily he agreed, he could feel it, but Iwaizumi was curious about it too. They didn’t talk on the short trip back to the inn, not wanting anyone to overhear what they were going to do.

\--

“I think we should leave early this time.”

“What? Makki, why?” Oikawa asked, pausing in taking off his jewelry.

“I was in the crowd afterward and I overheard some people that wanted to find out who you really are. In case you forgot, we can’t afford that.”

Oikawa shook his head. “I’ve done three shows at every town we’ve stopped at. I’m not going to change that _now_ just because there’s some people that think they can uncover me.”

“I just think we should skip town now. Or at least not do a show tomorrow night.”

Oikawa shook his head again. “It’s tradition Makki. Plus there’re people who’ve already paid.”

Hanamaki flicked his ear as he helped with clasps that Oikawa couldn’t reach. “It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve stolen money from people.”

“No, but it would be the first time the _Grand King_ did. No one would come to my shows if I gained a reputation for stealing. And it’s not the first time you’ve been worried about this, but no one has been able to figure me out so far.” Oikawa finally finished with his jewelry and changed into more casual clothes. “Besides, they probably only wish they knew me, they don’t actually have a plan.”

“Oikawa,” Hanamaki said threateningly.

“Okay, okay,” Oikawa held up his hands in surrender, “If you can come up with solid proof that they’re serious, we will leave town early.”

“And no bending while we’re here. We don’t need everyone to find out you’re a firebender.”

“Fine. No bending. If you _really_ want to make sure they don’t catch on to me, we should do the water version of the dance tomorrow night. Yahaba can man the tickets and you can do the waterbending for extra effect. According to everyone else, that’ll make the Grand King a waterbender and me a non-bender,” Oikawa said as he carefully packed his costume into the secret compartment of his bag and set the jewelry in on top of it.

“You just want an excuse to add bending to your dance.”

“It’s meant to include bending!”

Hanamaki rolled his eyes. “It looks fine without it.” He held up a hand when Oikawa opened his mouth to argue. “Don’t even give me the speech again. I understand that it was literally made to include bending. But _fire_ bending, not water. And by the _dancer_ , not the guy hiding off to the side so the dancer can pretend to be a waterbender.”

“So you’ll do it?” he asked, giving his best pleading eyes.

“You know that doesn’t work on me,” Hanamaki sighed. After a few seconds, he added, “Of course I’ll do it. It’s easier to get money this way than stealing from everyone.”

“You wouldn't give up our scams for the world and you know it.”

“No, but at least this way we have a sort of steady income. Even if you always go off and spend it all.”

Oikawa waved his hand dismissively. “I don’t spend it _all_. And I don’t usually buy non-essentials.”

“Right. Like that new bag you just _had_ to have?”

“It’s bigger than my old one and it has a secret pocket for my costume,” Oikawa argued. He rolled up one of his pant legs and started unraveling the bandage wrapped around his knee. “Ugh, I think I may not have waited long enough between dances.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Hanamaki sighed and uncapped the bottle of water he carried with him. “You never do and you always make me heal you up afterwards.”

The water flowed out of the bottle and wrapped around his hands. He knelt down next to where Oikawa was sitting and placed his hands over the burn on Oikawa’s knee. The water glowed blue while he was healing it and tension seemed to seep out of Oikawa’s body.

“I think that’s good. Thanks Makki,” Oikawa said. Hanamaki made the water flow back into the bottle before replacing the cap. “Did you happen to get a good look at the people who said they were gonna figure me out?”

Hanamaki tilted his head in thought. “Yeah, I think so. I could probably pick them out in a crowd. Why?”

“Well,” Oikawa smirked, “I think we should help them. Afterall, who would suspect the people who are just as curious?”

\--

“Okay,” Hanamaki said, shoving a small bag of money into Oikawa’s hand, “remember: don’t tell them too much and don’t make it seem weird. And this is all the money I’m giving you today, so don’t spend it all at once.”

“Rude, Makki! I should get all the money from last night. I did all the work,” Oikawa whined. “And why do I have to do all the work now, too?”

Hanamaki sighed, “You know why. We’re trying to do this so _you_ don’t seem suspicious. Besides, I’m off to get us more money because I know you took like half our money with you.”

“I won’t spend it all, I promise,” Oikawa assured him. “Now point me in their direction.”

Hanamaki leaned over and pointed to two people with their backs to them. “There. The tall one with the curly hair and the blue clothes with the short one with the spiky hair. Taller one’s probably a waterbender. He’s kinda got that build, not to mention the conveniently color coded clothes. And based on the design, probably from the North.”

“Stop checking him out. No attachments, remember?”

“I can appreciate beauty when I see it,” Hanamaki said, raising his hands up in defense. “Besides, I’m not the one that broke that rule. Need I remind you of the incident with Suga?”

“Don’t-”

“I know, I know, now go,” he spun Oikawa around and shoved him forward, “before they walk away.”

Oikawa took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair, making sure his appearance was perfect. He walked confidently over to the stall the two were currently browsing and pretended to look over the selection of vegetables there.

“-three shows every time. He’s been to this town before, which is important because he doesn’t usually repeat places,” the taller one was saying.

“Then why don't we just stay here and wait to see who comes back before his shows?” 

“Because, Iwa, who knows when he'll come back here? If we're gonna figure out who he is, we're gonna do it now.”

Oikawa saw his chance to jump in. “Are you two talking about the Grand King?” They both jumped when he spoke. “Sorry, I just couldn't help but overhear.”

“Honestly, what kind of narcissist gives themself a name like Grand King?” the shorter one grumbled.

“Oh, it wasn't him,” Oikawa replied quickly. “It was a fan at one of his dances. That was one of the ones I’ve been to. After that, the name just stuck.”

“Have you been to multiple shows?” the taller one asked. “Like in different villages and stuff?”

Oikawa nodded. “I suppose I'm just lucky.”

“How many have you been to?”

Oikawa tilted his head and pretended to think about it. “I think five.”

“Seriously? Five?” the taller one asked incredulously.

“It helps when you notice patterns. By the way, my name’s Sugawara. Sugawara Koushi. But you can call me Suga.”

“I’m Matsukawa Issei and this is Iwaizumi,” the taller one, Matsukawa, introduced. “Have you ever thought of trying to figure out who the Grand King is behind his mask?”

“Once or twice,” Oikawa replied, doing his best to keep his smug smile off his face. “Why?”

“Did you want to help us figure it out?”

Oikawa opened his mouth to agree, but Iwaizumi cut him off. “Actually, give us one second, please?” He didn’t even wait for Oikawa’s response, simply pulled Matsukawa off to the side to talk. Oikawa was content to just watch. He was fairly confident that Iwaizumi wouldn’t be able to talk Matsukawa out of letting him help.

“Okay,” Iwaizumi sighed when they turned around again, “you can help if you want.”

“I’d love to!” Oikawa exclaimed. “We should share everything we know about him so far, then. Maybe we could all get lunch together?”

“Well, the show last night kinda cleaned us out. We could just find an out of the way spot to talk, though,” Matsukawa suggested.

“Nonsense, I can pay for all of us, as long as you don’t get something really expensive.”

“We really shouldn’t-” Iwaizumi started to say, but Oikawa grabbed his wrist and literally dragged him away. “Seriously?”

“Come on, live a little. It’s not like it’s gonna kill you to go to lunch with me.”

Matsukawa laughed. “Yeah, Iwa, lunch couldn’t hurt. Especially if we’re not paying.”

Iwaizumi sighed. “Fine, but at least let go of me.” He tried to tug his hand out of Oikawa’s grip.

“Nope,” Oikawa smiled, holding on tighter. “If you had just agreed to begin with, this wouldn’t have been a problem, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi stopped walking. “Iwa-chan? What are you, twelve?”

“Yeah, on a scale of one to ten,” Oikawa responded smoothly. “Now come on. If you don’t start walking, I’m gonna pick you up.”

“As if you could,” Iwaizumi scoffed. Oikawa raised an eyebrow.

“Is that a challenge?”

“I’ll buy you lunch if you can carry me to whatever restaurant we’re going to without stopping,” Iwaizumi responded.

“Iwa, you really shouldn’t-” Matsukawa tried to say. Oikawa interrupted him by pulling Iwaizumi closer and picking him up easily. “... make bets,” he finished.

“So where are we going?” Oikawa asked Matsukawa.

“I don’t really know anywhere good in town here, Iwa and I are really just passing through.”

“I know a good place,” Oikawa said and started walking off, “Follow me.”

It wasn’t very long of a walk, but Oikawa’s arms did start getting tired when they were almost there. He refused to admit defeat, though and ended up carrying Iwaizumi all the way to the table they sat at.

“Iwaizumi, do me a favor?” Matsukawa asked. “Never make a bet ever again. You never win.”

Iwaizumi lifted his head off the table and Oikawa had to hide the smile that started forming when he realized Iwaizumi was still blushing. “I win bets some of the time!”

“Name one time you’ve won a bet. Just one.”

“Well… um… there has to be at least one, I just can’t think of it right now.”

“Of the hundred and something bets we’ve made, I’ve won all of them.”

“I had to have won at least one,” Iwaizumi protested. “Anyway, there was a point to this lunch other than just talking about how I shouldn’t make bets.”

“Smooth topic change, Iwa, it was wonderful,” Matsukawa teased.

“He does have a point, though,” Oikawa interrupted. “What do you two know about the Grand King?”

“You first,” Iwaizumi said.

“I’ll ignore the part where you lost the bet if you go first.”

“Fine, but only because we don’t want to waste money,” Matsukawa agreed. “So we know he doesn’t usually repeat towns, but there are a few that he does repeat. Usually if he repeats it once, he’ll keep repeating that town, so it’s more likely to find him somewhere he’s repeated once than somewhere he’s only been once. Also there’s three shows at every town, pretty much no matter what. And no one actually knows who he is, or at least they don’t make it public.”

“Is that all?” Oikawa asked.

“I heard rumors he was wanted by the Fire Nation army,” Iwaizumi supplied, “but I have no idea if that’s true or not.”

Oikawa made a surprised noise. “Where’d you hear that?”

“I think it was a few towns over. Some women were gossiping about him and one of them said something about it.”

“I haven’t heard that one in a while. Not many people know that rumor. I’m pretty sure it’s true though.”

“What makes you say that?” Matsukawa asked.

“Well it's not really well known, but there was one time he only did 2 shows at a town. I was supposed to go to the third, but it got canceled. Everyone who had prepaid for a ticket got a refund. Well, I did at least. Anyway, the night before the third show, some soldiers from the Fire Nation showed up and pretty soon after there was someone going around saying the next show was canceled. So I think he's trying to avoid the Fire Nation. More than the rest of us, that is.”

“You're so fucking lucky,” Matsukawa breathed out.

“If that's what you wanna call lucky, then sure.”

“What else do you know?”

“The same guy collects money for tickets almost every time, so if you can find that guy, you'll probably find the Grand King. Also the Earth King _hates_ him because he uses the title of king even though he's not actually royalty and the Earth King has tried to get him to perform in the palace but he hasn't been able to convince him yet.”

“How do you even know that?” Iwaizumi asked.

“Same way I know most anything. Rumors. Anyway, do you two have some sort of plan for this?”

“Well, we figure he’s not gonna wear the same outfit all the time, so we just have to figure out where he goes to change-”

“You’re not gonna try and walk in on him, are you?” Oikawa interrupted Matsukawa. “That just sounds perverted.”

“ _No_ we’re not going to do that. We’re going to wait for him to come out after he’s _done_ changing.”

“What are you gonna do if he comes out of the door?”

Matsukawa and Iwaizumi looked at each other. “Uh, we didn’t really think that far.”

“Do you even know how to figure out where he goes after a show?”

“If you’re just going to trash talk us, why did you agree to help us?” Iwaizumi cut in. 

Oikawa’s mouth twitched up into a smile. It was more enjoyable than he thought, working with these two. (Especially Iwaizumi but Oikawa wouldn’t admit that _ever_ because of the ‘No attachments’ rule.) “I agreed to help you because I couldn’t do it on my own. And obviously neither could you. Anyway, there’s a room behind the stage that he probably goes into, but I think it has two doors.”

“So he could go out either one,” Iwaizumi summed up. “Which is why you need us.”

“Exactly,” Oikawa affirmed. He was trying not to act smug about his plan working, but he just felt so _accomplished_ that he was able to pull this off. Hanamaki thought he wouldn’t be able to do it. “So does this mean we’re a team? Officially?”

Iwaizumi sighed. “I guess.”

“Absolutely.”

“Perfect, because I have an idea. We’ll go to the show tonight and afterwards, we’ll find our way to the room that I think he changes in. One of you will wait by one door and I’ll wait with the other one of you by the other door. Then at least one of us will be able to see him and maybe stall him long enough for the others to meet him too.”

“That’s… actually a pretty good idea,” Iwaizumi admitted. “It could work.”

\--

“I don’t really trust that guy,” Iwaizumi muttered to Matsukawa once they were back in their room at the inn. “He lied about his name. And the number of shows he’s been to.”

“So?” Matsukawa asked. Iwaizumi gave him a flat look. He sighed and continued, “Did he lie about anything else?”

“Well, not that I could tell, no.”

“Maybe he just wants to make sure if we get in any trouble he doesn’t get caught. Or maybe he’s got a stalker and he can’t say his real name or else they’ll tell his other stalkers and then he’ll have a bunch of people who know his real name and he’ll have to move to the South Pole in order to avoid them all and he’ll have to teach himself waterbending in order to survive and he’ll learn from the moon herself and become the best waterbender ever and then return-”

“Mattsun, what the fuck?” Iwaizumi stared at him. “How would that even _begin_ to be a thing?”

“Like I said, he might have a stalker. That’s how the whole thing would begin. Or I mean maybe he’s actually the Grand King and he’s trying to throw us off and for some reason he thinks that if we know his real name we’ll recognize the name and connect it to the Grand King which would be ridiculous because we don’t know _any_ name connected to the Grand King, but maybe he’s on the run from the Fire Nation and _they_ know his name and he’s actually trying to protect both us and himself by using a fake name. Or-”

Iwaizumi squinted. “Have you been drinking cactus juice again? None of what you said is even probable. Here’s a theory, _maybe_ he just wants to screw us over in some way and he doesn’t want to get caught by us after he ditches town.”

Matsukawa tilted his head to think about it. “Nah, I like my theories better. Anyway, he even set up the plan for tonight so that one of us would be with him. If he were gonna screw us over, he would have put himself alone. Not to mention the fact that he literally paid for our lunch.”

“I guess, but I still don’t trust him at all.”

“You don’t necessarily need to,” Matsukawa pointed out. “You just need to be able to work with him for long enough to figure out who the Grand King actually is.”

“What if he tries to rob us?”

Matsukawa rolled his eyes. “Why would he buy us lunch and then rob us hours later? He already knows we don’t have much money.”

Iwaizumi shrugged. “Come up with your own theory about that.” Matsukawa opened his mouth. “Actually, no. Don’t.”

“Was he telling the truth about what he knows about the Grand King? And about how he wants to figure out who he is?” Matsukawa asked after a few minutes of silence.

“As far as I could tell, but I could be wrong. What if he’s some sort of serial killer? What are we gonna do then?”

“It’s two of us against one of him. Plus you’ll be able to tell where he is because of that weird earthbending thing you can do. We’ll be fine.”

\--

“How are you going to meet them before your dance, look inconspicuous, rush to the stage somehow in your costume, dance, finish and change back out of your costume, and meet outside your _actual changing room_ without making them suspicious at all?”

Oikawa flopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. “You worry too much.”

“I worry a perfectly good amount,” Hanamaki countered, looming over Oikawa and looking down at him disapprovingly. “Do you have a plan for how you’re going to manage all of that?”

“I’m trying not to think about it,” Oikawa shrugged. “I was thinking of going the ‘I got lost in the crowd and met up with you back where we agreed to meet just barely too late’ route.”

Realistically speaking, this would never work. Oikawa knew that. But at this point it would honestly be harder for him to get out of it. It would look extremely suspicious if Oikawa just didn’t show up after he had said he would. And even though-

“Stop it,” Hanamaki’s voice cut through his thoughts. He sat down next to Oikawa and Oikawa moved so his head was in Hanamaki’s lap. “That’s the face you make when you start getting attached. It sucks, but we made that rule for a reason. After tomorrow night, they’ll both be gone forever because we’re leaving and there’s no way we’ll run into them again.”

“I’m not getting attached, calm down. They’re both nice, but I’m not having a repeat incident. No one deserves what Suga got.”

“At least we’ve got people like Yahaba and Watari. Even if we pretty much never see them. And we have to keep things from them,” Hanamaki pointed out after a few seconds of a saddened silence. “But it’s still good that we have them.”

“I guess,” Oikawa sighed and grabbed Hanamaki’s hand and brought it to his head. Hanamaki wordlessly started running his fingers through Oikawa’s hair. “I still wish things were different.”

“Me too.”

“You know,” Oikawa started quietly, “things could be different for you. They probably don’t remember you after all this time. You could start over somewhere. It wouldn’t be hard.”

“I’m not going to just leave you. We’re a team,” Hanamaki said with such finality that Oikawa decided not to argue.


	2. Good Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know it'll be fun when it's like a month late and the chapter's title is good ending
> 
> technically, the story ends with this chapter but i will be writing a prologue and side stories at some point

“Are you sure you’re ready?”

Oikawa nodded. “As long as you’ll be here when I come back to help me change.”

“Of course. Now go and then get back here quickly. Don’t waste time. I told Yahaba earlier to act like he doesn’t know you when you go through the line, so you’re all set on that end.”

Oikawa gave Hanamaki a mock salute and ran off to the place he was supposed to meet Iwaizumi and Matsukawa. He already had as much of his costume on as he could while still being inconspicuous. Matsukawa and Iwaizumi were already waiting for him when he got there.

“Suga, what took you so long?” Matsukawa called once he noticed Oikawa.

“I lost track of time, sorry. I take it you’re both ready to go, then?”

“Have been for a while,” Iwaizumi muttered. “How are we getting in? Mattsun and I don’t have enough money for more tickets.”

“We’re going through a side door. Not many people know about it, so we shouldn’t get caught.”

Oikawa led them around to one of the side entrances and then down a dark hallway. He ran one hand along the wall in order to give himself some sense of where he was and to count the doors so he made sure they came out the right one. Finally he came to the right door. He pushed it open just enough for the three of them to slip through and into the crowd.

“Is it seriously this easy to just sneak in?” Hanamaki asked quietly.

“If you’re with me it is,” Oikawa replied. “Come on, let’s get closer. The second night is almost always better than the first.”

Oikawa wove through the crowd, subtly trying to lose Iwaizumi and Matsukawa. They seemed to be able to follow him easily, though, which was frustrating. He saw the perfect chance to lose them when two people were walking towards each other quickly. It wasn’t easy to time, but he managed to just barely slip between them and get even farther into the crowd. When he turned around, Iwaizumi and Matsukawa were nowhere to be seen.

“Finally,” he muttered before making his way back out of the crowd as fast as he could. He slipped out a different side door, one that was closer to his changing room. Once he closed the door behind himself, he started running and taking as much of his clothes off as he could.

“You’re late, c’mon,” Hanamaki said, helping him take off the rest of his clothes and put on the costume. He was already in his loose black clothing he would wear backstage. The only thing left for him to do was flip up the hood.

Oikawa’s costume tonight was different. He had picked it up a while ago from a waterbending village in the South. It was different shades of blues with more ribbons attached than he liked. The way they shimmered and fluttered when he moved made it look almost like he was actually waterbending. It covered less of his arms than the other one with no sleeves except for two arm bands that covered his forearms. Those were the only tight part of the costume. It was one of the better costumes Oikawa had worn, but the one from the night before was his favorite.

“Okay, are you ready?” Hanamaki asked as he clipped the veil in place.

“Of course. Are you?” Oikawa answered calmly.

“As ready as I’ll be. Let’s go.” 

Oikawa took his place on the side of the stage and Hanamaki stood off to the side. The stage itself had been slightly modified in order to hold the water that would be needed for the performance. Oikawa took a deep breath before walking confidently to the middle of the stage. There were more torches near him tonight, burning brighter than last night. He struck a pose, pointing at the ceiling, and the roof started to open. A smile came to his face when he heard the newcomers gasp. He’d have to remember to thank Yahaba for that new feature when he got a chance.

Once the roof was all the way open, he settled into his starting position. The music started slowly and he mostly let himself get carried away with it. He had danced this exact dance so many times before that it became completely muscle memory. The only reason he didn’t completely let go was because he needed to make sure he was in sync with the waterbending. But he trusted that as long as he did his job correctly, Hanamaki would do the same.

The water was always fun to watch while he was dancing. He almost believed that he was a waterbender. The water flowed so gently and the light from the torches looked _beautiful_ reflecting through it.

At the end of the dance, the water fell and it was almost like a spell was broken. The crowd, who had been so quiet Oikawa almost forgot they were there, erupted into applause. Oikawa bowed before running off stage, making sure he was completely out of sight before starting to take his costume off with Hanamaki there to catch various articles of clothing as he threw them.

“Ugh why does this have to be so difficult,” Oikawa complained as he tugged off his armbands. 

“What? Undressing or inserting yourself needlessly into a plot to figure out your true identity?”

“Both.” He finally made it into the changing room with only his pants and veil on. “Close the door please.”

 

Hanamaki grabbed Oikawa’s clothes from before up off of the floor and handed them to him so he could start getting dressed again. “That’s entirely your fault, you know. You didn’t have to get involved in this scheme.”

“But it’s _fun_ , Makki. This is the most fun I’ve had in awhile.”

“Just don’t get yourself found out. It won’t be fun then.”

“I won’t, I won’t, I promise. You might want to clear out of this room in the next couple of minutes though. Wouldn’t want them to think _you’re_ the Grand King,” Oikawa said as he slipped out of the door.

“Wait, you’re actually bringing them here? Oikawa!”

Oikawa snickered as he ran back to find Iwaizumi and Matsukawa. It didn’t take him very long to find them seeing as the crowd had mostly dispersed in the couple of minutes it took him to change. “Iwa-chan! Matsukawa! What happened to you two?”

“What happened to us? What happened to you?” Matsukawa asked. “You, like, disappeared.”

“Right, ‘disappeared,’” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and made air quotes around the word disappeared. “Why’d you ditch us?”

Oikawa tilted his head in mock confusion. “I didn’t though? I saw a really good spot open so I went for it, but when I looked around, you two weren’t behind me.”

“Anyway,” Matsukawa interrupted, stepping between Oikawa and Iwaizumi, “We should really get to the changing room place.”

“Right, follow me,” Oikawa turned to look back at Iwaizumi, “And keep up this time.”

He led them around a longer way in order to give Hanamaki a bit longer to get everything out of the changing room.

“So… which one of you am I going to be waiting with?”

Iwaizumi barely let Oikawa finish asking before responding with a simple, “Me.”

“Sounds like fun,” Oikawa said to himself. “Did you two like the show tonight?”

“It was so cool! He must be such a skilled waterbender to be able to do all that,” Matsukawa gushed.

“It was ok. It was the same dance, just with some bending thrown in. I don’t really get what’s so special about it.”

“Iwa, you literally said to me ‘Holy shit that’s so cool how does he do that’ _during the performance_. Don’t even try to pretend you didn’t like it.”

“Okay, fine, it was kinda cool. But still, it was the same dance.”

“I wish I could waterbend,” Oikawa sighed. “I’d definitely do something like that if I could.”

“Can you bend at all?” Matsukawa asked.

“Well, I can’t waterbend and I can’t earthbend. All the airbenders are supposedly extinct. So all that’s left is firebending, but what would a firebender be doing in the middle of the Earth Kingdom alone?”

“Damn, that sucks that you can’t.”

“I’m mostly over it. Besides, bending isn’t the only cool skill someone can do. And just because I can’t bend doesn’t mean I’m not in tune with the spirit world.” Oikawa stopped in front of one of the doors to his changing room. “Here’s where you’re gonna wait, Matsukawa. We’ll be at the other one.”

“Iwa, don’t kill him,” Matsukawa called after them.

“I’ll try,” Iwaizumi called back in what Oikawa hoped was a joking voice.

“So…” Oikawa tried after a few minutes of waiting in silence by the other door. Iwaizumi glared at him, but he decided it was safe to continue. “Can you bend?”

Iwaizumi nodded. “I’m an Earthbender.”

“Cool, cool.” Outwardly, Oikawa was keeping a straight face. Inwardly, he was freaking out because of how awkward the silence was between them.

“So what’s your real name?” Iwaizumi asked after another few minutes of silence.

Oikawa’s heart skipped a beat. “I’m sorry?”

“What’s your real name?” Iwaizumi repeated, moving to stand right in front of him, placing one hand on the wall by Oikawa’s head and leaning forward. “I know you lied when you said it was Suga. So what is it?”

“I… I don’t understand. My real name _is_ -”

“Cut the crap. I can feel your heartbeat through small vibrations in the ground, that’s how I know when you’re lying. It’s something I can do with earthbending. I _know_ you lied about your name.”

“If you knew I lied, why did you give me _your_ real name? And why did you agree to work with me?”

“Matsukawa is hard to say no to sometimes. And how do you know that I _did_ give you the right name?”

“Earthbending isn’t the only way to tell if someone’s lying, Iwa-chan. I’m pretty skilled at dealing with liars.”

“So now you know my name, but I only know you lied once about your name. What’s the harm in telling me?”

“You’re very stubborn, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, pushing lightly against Iwaizumi’s chest with one hand. “But fine, since you absolutely _insist_ , it’s Hanamaki.”

“No it’s not.”

“Fine. Oikawa. There. Are you happy now?” Oikawa snapped. It probably wasn’t his best idea, giving out his name like that.

“At least you didn’t lie this time. Was that really so hard?”

Oikawa sighed. “It’s not something you’d understand, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi scoffed. “I’m sure-”

“Don’t you think he should have come out by now?” Oikawa asked, abruptly changing the subject. “Can’t you see in there with your earthbending thing? What’s taking so long?”

“I can’t because of the carpet. It’s gotta be a solid earthen surface for me to be able to tell if anything is happening in there.”

“Good to know,” Oikawa hummed. “Maybe there’s a third exit I didn’t know about? All the floors and walls are stone, so couldn’t you just, I dunno, look for a third place with an opening?”

Iwaizumi stared at him for a few seconds. “Stop coming up with good ideas it makes it harder to not like you,” he muttered and turned around to put his hand on the wall on the other side of the hall.

“Ah, so it’s a conscious effort to not like me?” Oikawa asked, draping himself over Iwaizumi’s shoulder. “That’s good to know.”

“Stop that.” Iwaizumi pushed him off his shoulder. “I need to concentrate.”

“Not only do you have to put effort into not liking me, but I’m also a _distraction_ to you?” Oikawa teased. Iwaizumi ignored him in favor of closing his eyes and trying to find a third door.

“There’s a trap door in the ceiling. He probably went through that awhile ago.”

“Damn. I guess we can’t do anything else tonight, then.” Oikawa said, doing his best to act disappointed. “And just when you were starting to warm up to me.”

“You know,” Iwaizumi started and Oikawa was fairly certain he knew where this was going, “Matsukawa… doesn’t know about the trap door. We could just… stay here for a while.”

Oikawa was tempted to. He was _so_ tempted to forget about everything to stay with Iwaizumi for a while. He nearly said yes. “I… We really shouldn’t. It’s, uh, it’s not fair to Matsukawa. He’s all on his own on the other side of the door probably bored out of his mind.”

“You sure?”

Oikawa nodded. Iwaizumi probably knew he was lying. His flimsy excuse, while it _did_ work, was very obviously thought up on the spot. He was met with no argument, though. Iwaizumi just started leading them around to the door Matsukawa was waiting at.

“Did you two give up or something?” Matsukawa asked when he saw them turn the corner.

“There’s a trap door in the ceiling. He’s probably long gone by now,” Iwaizumi said.

“Are we gonna try again?”

“We’ve only really got one more chance,” Oikawa pointed out. “But with the trap door we’re not gonna know if he’s ever coming out of one of these doors. And in theory one of us could go up there, but who knows if we’ll be able to get into whatever room it leads to.”

“Are you giving up?”

“No,” Oikawa answered Iwaizumi’s question. “I’m just pointing out how hard it’ll be now that we know more.”

“That doesn’t mean we’re not gonna just stop trying.”

“Right,” Oikawa nodded.

\--

Iwaizumi was rudely awakened by loud knocking on the door of their room. He looked around and found that Matsukawa was also just waking up because of whoever was at their door.

“What’s going on?”

Iwaizumi shrugged. “No idea.”

The knocking hadn’t stopped, so Iwaizumi got up to open the door. He was nearly there when the door flung open.

“What the-” he nearly yelled, taking a step back and dropping into a fight stance. “Who are you?”

Three people, dressed as Fire Nation soldiers, walked into the room. “Our names are of no importance to you,” the leader said. “We merely have a few questions. You can relax.”

“Forgive me if I don’t relax after someone _kicks open my door_.”

The leader ignored his comment. “Do you know a man named Oikawa Tooru?” she asked, bringing out a scroll and unrolling it to show to him.

Iwaizumi looked at the picture on it. There was absolutely no doubt that it was the same person they had been working with. “I’ve never met him,” he said, looking directly into the leader’s eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“How about your friend over there?”

Matsukawa got out of his bed to shuffle over to them and look at the picture. “You said his name was Oikawa Tooru?”

“That’s correct.”

“Never met him.”

“That’s a pity,” she said, rolling up the scroll, “because multiple people in town saw you with him yesterday. If you had told the truth, I may have let you off easily. But now I fear you’ll have to come with us.”

Iwaizumi and Matsukawa tried to fight them off, but they were quickly subdued. The two soldiers tied them up and then started shoving at them so they would move. As they were passing the check in area, the leader stopped.

“Let Oikawa know, because I’m _sure_ he’s staying here, that I’ve got some of his friends and I’d like to meet him on the edge of town,” she said to the owner. And with that, they were led out. A few more soldiers were waiting outside the door and joined them when they came out. The few people that were out in the morning stopped to stare, but as soon as the leader started turning her head one way, they would all disappear into stores and buildings as fast as they could.

He caught a glimpse of Oikawa, eyes wide and an absolutely terrified look on his face, before he followed the rest to hide in a building.

“What do you want from us?” Iwaizumi growled. It earned him a smack to the back of his head and he was going to give up at that, but the leader started talking. 

“Oikawa always saves his friends. He'll come for you, likely agree to give himself up if I let you go, you two run free and I'll finally be done with this worthless mission.”

“What mission?” Matsukawa cut in. 

“To bring Tooru home of course.”

\--

It was nearly sunset and Iwaizumi's arms were numb and his legs were only slightly better. They had tied up his legs a while ago after the first escape attempt. He would try yet another, but he seriously doubted he would be able to do anything.

The leader, Iwaizumi still didn't know her name, had started pacing around the camp. If Iwaizumi had to guess a reason, she was probably nervous that Oikawa hadn't shown up yet. She had seemed so confident that he would, but it was getting late and no Oikawa.

“Hey Iwa.”

“Yeah?”

“Was his name really Oikawa?”

Iwaizumi nodded. “He told me last night.”

Matsukawa smiled. “You know what that means, right? I was right.”

He groaned and leaned back. “Is that really what you're gonna focus on right now?”

“Absolutely,” Matsukawa replied before they fell into a relatively comfortable silence for a few minutes.

Iwaizumi felt a hand cover his mouth.

“Can I trust you to stay quiet if I take my hand away?” He nodded and the hand moved away. “If we get caught, follow my lead.”

He nodded again and the ropes started loosening. Whoever this was must have been cutting him free. He brought his arms around in front of himself and grimaced at the marks left. Once the stranger was done cutting his legs free, Iwaizumi looked to Matsukawa, expecting to see the stranger uncutting him. Only to find that another stranger already had it done.

“Can you stand?”

Matsukawa nodded immediately, but Iwaizumi wasn’t so sure. Not with how tight they had his legs tied for so long. One of them sighed and stepped forward, bending a small stream of water out of a flask at their side. The water flowed around his legs, glowing blue. It tingled a little and generally feld weird, but when they bent the water away, back into the flask, his legs felt much better.

“That’s good enough for now, we need to-”

“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show up.”

“You know me, I’ve always had a flair for the dramatics,” one of them said, taking off their hood.

“It’s been a while, Tooru.”

“Not quite long enough, sister,” Oikawa answered. Iwaizumi froze. _Sister_. She had said something earlier about bringing him ‘home’ but Iwaizumi had thought she meant one of the prisons maybe. Not actually _home_.

“You’ve got two options. You can attempt to fight your way out of the mess you landed yourself and your friends in, but I doubt you would be able to save everyone like i’m sure you want to. Or you can give yourself up willingly and I’ll let your friends go.”

Oikawa thought about it and Iwaizumi hardly dared to take a breath while he waited for Oikawa’s answer.

“Is father here?” he asked instead. His sister shook her head.

“What the fuck is he doing?” the stranger next to him hissed.

“In that case,” Oikawa said, raising his voice, “I challenge you to an Agni Kai. Should I win, my friends and I get to walk free. Should you win, we will all go with you willingly. Do you accept?”

“Tooru, what are you-”

“Relax, Makki,” Oikawa said, “She hasn’t even accepted yet.”

“I accept your challenge and its conditions.” She turned to them. “If any of you try to interfere or run, that will count as an automatic win for me.”

Oikawa’s friend nodded.

“The Agni Kai will begin when the sun begins to set.”

“What’s an Agni Kai?” Iwaizumi asked after all the soldiers that had stopped to watch went back to what they were doing before.

“It’s a duel between two firebenders. Usually it’s an honor thing, I think, but I guess it can be used for this too. I don’t know much about them, Oikawa never explained much.”

“Oikawa’s not a bender, though.”

“He’s a firebender. He couldn’t issue a challenge otherwise.”

“But he-”

“Sorry, but can you struggle with the fact that someone lied to you even with your weird lie detector thing later? We have more pressing issues right now. Hold out your arms.” Iwaizumi did as he was told and Makki bent water out of the flask again and it swirled around his arms, giving him the same feeling as before with his legs. “My name's Hanamaki by the way.”

“I'm Iwaizumi,” he said.

“I know.” At Iwaizumi's confused look, he said, “Oikawa told me.”

The water flowed away from his arms and he moved them around, testing how they felt now. Iwaizumi was surprised at how much better they felt. 

“You next, Matsukawa.”

Matsukawa made a face when the water touched him. “This feels weird.”

“I know, but it’s necessary. You’ll need your arms fully healed if we get out of this mess.”

“If?” Iwaizumi cut in. Hanamaki was about to respond when Oikawa bounded up to them.

“Excuse us for just a minute,” Hanamaki said before literally dragging Oikawa away. They didn’t get far enough that Iwaizumi couldn’t hear the whole thing, though.

“Makki I-”

“No. You _promised_ , Oikawa. You promised you wouldn’t do this again.”

“Last time was different. I know my sister and-”

“She’s the reason you need to be healed after every time you dance! What else is there to know?”

“There’s a lot and I don’t have time to tell you everything-”

“I thought you already had.”

Iwaizumi turned away then, well aware the argument was far too personal for him to be listening in on. It wasn’t long before Oikawa stalked past him and Matsukawa.

“Oikawa,” Hanamaki called and for a second Iwaizumi thought he wouldn’t turn around. “I’m pissed beyond belief at you, I hope you know that.”

“What’s the point of this, Hanamaki?” Oikawa asked coldly.

“Good luck. Just because I’m pissed and we need to talk doesn’t mean I want you to lose.”

“Right,” Oikawa nodded. Some of the tension between them lifted, but it was evident to anyone that they weren’t actually on good terms again yet.

Oikawa and his sister moved to two ends of a long clearing. It appeared as though tents had been hastily moved in order to make space for their fight. Iwaizumi, Hanamaki, and Matsukawa moved to the end Oikawa was kneeling at, just outside of a line drawn in the sand, in order to watch. The same two soldiers that had helped take Iwaizumi and Matsukawa were at the other end talking to Oikawa’s sister.

“Dodge if you need to and please don’t get hurt,” Hanamaki instructed.

“How likely is it that we’re going to have to dodge?” Matsukawa asked.

Hanamaki tilted his head in thought. “About a 50/50 chance.”

There must have been some sort of signal that Iwaizumi missed because Oikawa and his sister both stood up at the same time and turned around. It looked like Oikawa hesitated for a second before taking a step and shoving both of his hands forward. Iwaizumi shouldn’t have been surprised at the fire extending from his palms, slowly growing stronger and stronger, but just because he was prepared for it didn’t mean it wasn’t still a shock.

“Are the flames… green?” Matsukawa asked, voicing one of the many questions going through Iwaizumi’s mind.

“Fire can be any color in the rainbow,” Hanamaki replied. “Most firebenders only know how to bend orange or red, but Oikawa and I found a tribe of people who guard the last dragons and he learned from them how to change the color of his flame.”

“Dragons?”

Hanamaki nodded. “They’re supposed to be extinct. And a secret, but I figure you already know one of the big secrets so you may as well know the others. Oikawa is the Grand King.”

Iwaizumi let that sink in. As soon as he fully realized what that meant, he turned to Matsukawa. “Don’t even say it.”

“Say what?” Matsukawa asked, attempting to feign innocence. “That I was right?”

“Whatever. Shut up. It's not like you actually knew.”

Iwaizumi turned his attention back to the fight. The two seemed fairly evenly matched, but Oikawa seemed to be on defence mostly. His sister fired attack after attack at him and he dispersed the flames, but rarely attacked for himself.

“You fight like a waterbender!”

“Maybe that’s because that’s who I learned from,” Oikawa said through gritted teeth as he took control of the flames around him, redirecting them into his own attack and pushing her back. He started going on the attack, shooting quick bursts of fire from his fists. His sister didn’t stop her attacks in order to defend herself. She simply attacked back in order to stop the blows. It looked like she was more powerful than Oikawa, but he was faster and better at using her strength against her.

It was hard to tell who was winning, but Oikawa kept getting pushed back. One particularly strong blow from his sister had him falling back, sliding for a second before coming to a stop.

“Oikawa!” Hanamaki yelled and moved to take a step forward. Iwaizumi grabbed him by the back of his shirt and roughly pulled him back. “Hey, let-”

“We can’t interfere, remember?” Hanamaki crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, but stopped struggling.

“I expected better from you, little brother.” His sister was standing above him. “I’m not sure why. You left before you even finished your training.” Iwaizumi bit his lip, anxiously waiting for Oikawa to get up again. He knew Oikawa was still alive, but he _wasn’t getting up_. “Don’t tell me you’re accepting your defeat so easily? You’ve changed a lot. Being away has softened you too much.”

“No,” came a weak reply. Oikawa pushed himself to his feet. There was a hole singed in his shirt and the skin underneath was red. “Being away from all of you made me stronger. I _will not_ give up.”

It must have been his imagination, but it looked like Oikawa’s sister smiled. Oikawa started going more on the attack, knocking his sister back. He didn’t let her collect herself at all, launching attack after attack. She slipped in the sand at the same time Oikawa sent one of the largest balls of fire at her and she nearly flew through the air before landing in the sand.

“Take your friends and _go_ ,” she coughed. Oikawa paused to help her up and whisper a few words to her before turning around and walking towards them.

“We have until the morning to leave town or else she will come after us again,” Oikawa said once he got closer. He looked dead on his feet. “Your stuff is still in Yahaba’s inn, right?”

Matsukawa and Iwaizumi nodded.

“Shouldn’t you-”

“Unless you’re about to suggest that I leave here faster, it can wait,” Oikawa said, cutting off Matsukawa. “I’m sorry if you two were planning to stay here longer, but it’s not safe for you to stay here. We can talk when we’re out of town and far away from any more Fire Nation soldiers.”

Matsukawa fell silent and Iwaizumi didn’t blame him. Oikawa was snappier than they’d experienced and neither of them wanted to make his mood any worse.

\--

“Well?” Hanamaki prompted once Iwaizumi and Matsukawa had gone in to get their things.

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

Oikawa sighed. “I didn’t tell you because I don’t like talking about it. As you can imagine, our father wasn’t the greatest person.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Hanamaki muttered under his breath.

“I think I realized what he was doing, all of the unnecessarily cruel things about a year before you and I met and I started planning to get away.”

“I already know this part,” Hanamaki interrupted.

“I asked my sister to come with. She was still for the most part under Father’s control. Even thinking of disobeying was scary because it felt like he would know. Instead of selling me out, she made me promise not to talk about it to anyone else. The reason she fought me all out last time was because Father was there. He wasn’t this time, so I knew she would throw the fight.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about that before?”

“I didn’t know it would be her when we were making the plan, so I’m sorry I worried you and made you upset. I would have explained it while we were there, but I didn’t want any of the soldiers to overhear.”

“I’m just glad you’re not severely injured. Do you want me to heal your burns here or after we’ve left town?”

“After we’ve left. I don’t want to stay here any longer than we have to.” Hanamaki nodded in agreement. “There’s one other thing. I was thinking that since, you know, those two know most of our secrets already, we could invite them along with us. After we’ve gotten them to the next town safely.”

Hanamaki looked at the door of the inn, taking a few seconds to think about it. “I’d like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me on tumblr @theprettytiddyclub
> 
> I'm also part of thewritersquad on tumblr
> 
> you can also now add me on snapchat under the username prettysetters
> 
> Up next: the bad ending aka what happens when i'm stuck in an airport for 3 days


	3. Bad End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, I take 'bad ending' pretty seriously, so just know that this chapter really doesn't have anything to do with the story, it's just an alternate ending i thought of so if you don't want to read it you don't have to. This just kind of picks up near the end of the last chapter, so you really have to read that one before you read this one to understand what's going on. There will be major character death in this chapter, though, just warning you. So with that in mind, enjoy
> 
> also at some point in the future, i'm probably gonna write a prequel to this about how oikawa and makki met

“No. You _promised_ , Oikawa. You promised you wouldn’t do this again.”

“Last time was different. I know my sister and-”

“She’s the reason you need to be healed after every time you dance! What else is there to know?”

“There’s a lot and I don’t have time to tell you everything-”

“I thought you already had.” Oikawa didn’t respond to that and Hanamaki simply scoffed. “I thought we were open with each other now. I know you have trust issues and I know it’s not easy for you to open up, but I thought we were basically brothers. I guess this is just what you do with your siblings.”

“Makki-”

“Don’t talk to me,” Hanamaki growled. “Just go win your fucking duel and leave me alone.”

Oikawa watched Hanamaki walk away and talk to Iwaizumi and Matsukawa. He sighed, hating the fact that he and Hanamaki were _actually_ fighting for the first time in a long time. There was no time to dwell on that, though. If he wasn’t in control for the Agni Kai, who knows if he could actually pull off a win. He was only partially sure that his sister would throw the duel for him because their father wasn’t there. A few deep breaths mostly settled him, but he was still feeling the rift he’d caused between himself and Hanamaki. After the duel, he would apologize and admit that Hanamaki was right and he should have listened to him and his warnings. It was clear he wouldn’t be willing to listen now and there really wasn’t time.

“Hey, Oikawa,” Matsukawa called. Oikawa looked up, somewhat startled back into reality. “Good luck.”

Oikawa forced a smile. “Thanks.”

He took a deep breath as he walked to the area some of the soldiers had prepared. He knelt down, facing where Hanamaki, Iwaizumi, and Matsukawa were standing and waited for the feeling of the sun setting and his bending getting weaker as a result. He tried his best not to look at Hanamaki while he did, attempting to keep his emotions in control.

As soon as he stood up and turned around, he immediately went on the attack. His lack of control was _painfully_ obvious to anyone that knew anything about firebending. His sister was easily dodging or blocking his attacks. It didn’t take long before his sister turned the tables and started attacking him. Dodging was easy, but he couldn’t take back the flow. She was simply overpowering him.

His hope was gone once he saw the crackle of electricity run along her arms. He only just barely dodged when she shot the lightning at him, landing on the ground heavily. His arms were scratched up and he knew for sure that he wouldn’t be able to block any more attacks.

“Tooru, I-” his sister said, cutting herself off by pressing her hand to her mouth. Oikawa raised his head to see why she hadn’t attacked again and found her staring behind him. “Take your friends and go. I didn’t- I…”

He pushed himself to his feet and looked behind himself to see Hanamaki on the ground. “Makki? Makki!” Oikawa yelled, running to his side. He dropped to his knees. The fabric of his shirt was singed right over his heart. “No, no _please_.”

“Oikawa-” Iwaizumi started, putting his hand on Oikawa’s shoulder. Oikawa pushed his hand away.

“Takahiro, _please_. You can’t- Please don’t leave me,” Oikawa sobbed, voice cracking and vision going blurry from tears. “ _Please_.” He picked Hanamaki up, cradling him in his arms close to his chest. “I can’t lose you.”

“Oikawa, we have to go,” Iwaizumi said softly, putting his hand back on Oikawa’s shoulder. “We can’t just stay here.” He tried to pull Oikawa up but he stubbornly refused.

“I don’t want to go anywhere without Makki.”

“We can bring his body with so you can bury it properly, but we need to leave now,” Matsukawa said, putting his hand on Oikawa’s other shoulder. Oikawa didn’t react. Iwaizumi pried his hands off of Hanamaki’s shirt carefully and lifted him to his feet. “I’ll take Hanamaki.”

Iwaizumi led Oikawa out of the camp with one hand around his shoulders while Matsukawa picked up Hanamaki and carried his body. Oikawa stayed silent while they were leaving. They found a place to bury Hanamaki just outside the town. 

“This is my fault,” Oikawa said quietly after it was all over. “It’s my fault completely.”

“It’s not-”

“It is, though,” Oikawa interrupted Matsukawa. “He wanted us to leave two days ago and I insisted we stay. He kept telling me this was all a bad idea and I didn’t listen. We had a different plan to get out of there but I just had to start the Agni Kai. It’s my fault. I kept making the bad decisions and he was the one that paid for them.”

“Oikawa, you couldn’t have known this would happen.”

“No, but I should have been more careful. I should have listened to him. If I had, then he wouldn’t- he wouldn’t have died. He’s all I’ve got what am I going to do now.”

“You’re welcome to come with us,” Iwaizumi offered.

Oikawa smiled bitterly. “I’ll probably just get you killed too.”

“We’re willing to risk it. You shouldn’t travel alone.”

Oikawa lowered his gaze. “Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rip makki
> 
> find me on tumblr @theprettysettersclub  
> i'm also part of @thewritersquad on tumblr

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr @theprettysettersclub  
> I'm also now part of @thewritersquad on tumblr


End file.
